And there goes 2018

Another year down. It went a lot like last year, with a little less dolly love. What did you do this year?

January 7. New dress.
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January 12. Meet Luciana!
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January 14. Taking Luciana home.
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January 21. Luciana settles in.
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January 24-28. Disney World (last trip before pass expires)
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January 31. Logan tries on girl clothes.
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February 11. Ready to travel.
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February 11. Practicing.
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February 16-20. New York!
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February 21. Snowy.
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March 10. My dad got a kitty.
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March 22. Lambs!
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March 25. Maryellen’s trailer.
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March 29. New Maplelea outfits.
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April 4. This is what 120 tablets of Albenza looks like.
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April 8. Cattle escape (they live two houses down–about a quarter mile!)
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May 12-13. Victoria.
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May 15. New Fluevogs.
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May 19. Half marathon.
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May 20. Orchestra concert.
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May 25-28. I missed Disney World, so I went without park tickets. Just hung out at the resorts.
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June 19. New neighbors.
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June 24. Shaw Island.
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July 1. Birthday in Disneyland (Paris!)
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July 1-8. Paris.
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July 27-29. Back to Victoria.
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August 2-9. England.
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August 5. Land’s End.
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August 8. Birling Gap.
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August 8. Canterbury Cathedral.
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August 10-12. Disneyland (not Paris)
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August 20. Air pollution, courtesy of California wildfires.
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August 24-25. House guest.
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August 26. Fluevogs.
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August 26. Lego Disney Castle.
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August 30. I ate my neighbors! They were delicious.
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August 31-September 3. Disney World, new annual pass.
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September 6-10. Yosemite.
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September 15. Fluevogs.
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October 5. Fluevogs.
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October 5-7. Salt Lake City.
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October 19-21. San Diego.
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October 24. Chili cook-off (I didn’t compete; I provided the prizes)
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October 29. Halloween Costumes.
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November 15-19. Disney World.
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November 26. Christmas Tree up.
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November 30-December 2. Vancouver.
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December 12-16. Disneyland.
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2017 in Review

So, this post is 6 weeks late, but here’s a review of my 2017!

January 6: Meet Gabriela!
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January 13: Meeting Rick Steves
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January 27-28: Toronto
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February 3: Snowy Day Photo Shoot
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February 6: More Snowy Friends
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February 8-12: first trip to Disney World
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February 14: Jam Session
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February 17-19: volunteering at Girl Scout camp
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March 4: New Maplelea outfits
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March 14: Pi Day
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March 17: Puppy Love
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March 29: Sun! Maybe spring is coming!
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March 30-April 6: Peru
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April 6: my neighbors had babies!
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April 20: fun with kittens
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April 23: Tulip Festival
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April 28-30: Oregon
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May 3: Mismatched Shoes Day
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May 5-7: Salt Spring Island
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May 11: Book Signing
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May 12-14: Zion National Park
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May 26-29: second trip to Disney World (Flower and Garden Festival)
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May 31: clearance price on Lea’s Rainforest House
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June 9-19: Belgium and the Netherlands
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June 30-July 4: a Disney World birthday
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July 8: a little picnic
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July 14: Pho
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July 17: new dress! Flying Space Unicorns!
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July 19-23: Caroline goes to upstate New York (eventually I’ll write a post about it)
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July 25: weird stuff we sell at our store
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August 5: oooh, Grand Hotel
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August 11: Welcome Nanea!
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September 1-4: fourth trip to Disney World (Food and Wine Festival)
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September 19: I join the Sinfonia
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September 20: more weird stuff we sell at work
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September 28: Autumn is here
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September 29-October 1: Salt Lake City (that’s where I bought Z!)
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October 5: Z’s off to the doll hospital
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October 6: I got Tenney
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October 20-22: Chicago
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October 25: Z is back from the hospital
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October 27: a group photo
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October 31: Happy Halloween
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November 4: we did glass fusion for my sister’s birthday
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November 10-12: Olympic Peninsula
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November 13: power outage
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November 27: Christmas tree’s up!
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December 8-10: San Diego
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December 15-17: tree lighting in Leavenworth
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December 21: Last day to work before Christmas (I made all the snowflakes!)
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December 22: Four cheese spaghetti
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December 25: awesome Christmas gift
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December 29-31: New Years in Disney World
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Maplelea Monday: We went to Toronto!

Last Monday, Alexi and I were on our way home from Toronto!

This was my second trip to Toronto, but Alexi didn’t go with me last time.  And a doll from Toronto deserves to visit Toronto.  We had quite an adventure, and after this trip, I have crowned myself queen of public transportation.  I landed in Canada with $30 local currency and 2 subway tokens (I actually ended up losing one somewhere) and managed through 3 separate transit systems of buses and subways.  It was rough.  But awesome.  Let’s go!

It started in the wee hours of Saturday, with a shuttle bus to the airport.

We first flew to Chicago.  Here we are waiting for our little airplane to take us to Toronto

We landed in Toronto about 7:30.  Again the actual customs line moved fast, but the wait for luggage was slow, just like when Leonie and I went to Canada in August.  We didn’t make it to our hotel until long after 9; too late for dinner.  Here we are waiting for our bus from the airport:

On Sunday we got up bright and early and had breakfast near the hotel, then took 2 buses to go to church.  I don’t always go to church when I’m on vacation, but I thought it would be important to go on this trip.  I found out after I booked the trip that last weekend was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada.  Thanksgiving in Canada has nothing to do with Pilgrims and Indians, but it is a time to be thankful for life’s blessings.  I think going to church is a perfect place to go to celebrate our many blessings.

I had lots of churches to choose from, but I chose one in the town of Richmond Hill.  Here’s Alexi at the transfer point:

and on the sidewalk outside the church.  What a lovely fall day!

A major factor in choosing the Richmond Hill ward was that it was just one bus away from the Promenade Mall.  Are you wondering what’s so special about the Promenade Mall?  I’ll tell you soon…

Here’s Alexi on the bus to the mall.  It was a rapid transit bus named Viva.

Well…the Promenade Mall is home to the Maplelea Seasonal Store!  The only Maplelea store in existence, and even it is only open until Christmas!  The store made me so happy.  I told my friends that I went to dolly heaven.  Here are some pictures I took of the in-store displays.

Maplelea just introduced 15 new friend dolls!  Here they are with the 12 original friend dolls

Here’s a closeup of the 2 girls that stood out the most to me, #14 and #15

And here are the front window displays.  Sorry for all the glare.  In the first photo, you can see a reflection of a little boy.  He really wanted his mommy to take his photo with the dollies, but mommy wouldn’t!

And they had a super-cute photo booth!  I had to take Alexi’s photo:

They had a lot of fun props for the photo booth:

I could have spent all day at the store, staring at all the pretty dollies.  But I had a lot more Toronto to see!  That night I went to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner, then I went to Wonderland and rode roller coasters ’til midnight.  Alexi didn’t go to Wonderland.  She wouldn’t have been allowed on any of the rides anyway.

The next day we rode the subway downtown

First stop, breakfast:

If you’re interested, that is a worm and dirt doughnut and a strawberry banana yoghurt smoothie.

We wandered around downtown for about an hour, stopping for photo ops outside the hockey hall of fame:

The CN tower:

and the Sony Centre for Performing Arts

We also grabbed a photo of a random Canada Post box (because they’re so much cuter than a US mailbox)

and a streetcar (because it’s so much cuter than a bus)

Then we went to Eaton Centre, home of…

…an American Girl boutique!

It was cute and little.  I didn’t buy anything because I didn’t wanna pay the high sales tax rate, and I already have an American Girl Canada shirt that I got in Vancouver.  Just one cute photo.  I love Julie’s egg chair!

Then it was time for lunch, then back to the hotel to pick up luggage, then back to the airport.

We’ll close with this funny picture of Alexi on the airplane:

This was a quick, fun trip.  Toronto has so much to discover–I see myself visiting again and again.  Until next time!

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Forever Molly

I cheated a little.  Because Molly doesn’t have any new outfits, I didn’t take any new photos.  I already have a group photo with all of Molly’s outfits:

Back row: Emily’s snowsuit, Molly’s Christmas dress, swimsuit, Camp Gowonagin uniform, birthday dress, recital dress, Miss Victory costume, Molly’s bicycle, Emily’s tap costume, Molly’s dude ranch outfit, Route 66 outit, Tennis outfit, aviator outfit, Emily’s bathrobe, Molly’s pajamas, Molly’s bathrobe

Front row: Molly’s skating outfit, Emily’s Christmas dress, Emily’s bikini, Molly’s roller skating outfit, Molly’s birthday dress, Emily’s recital dress, Molly’s meet outfit, Emily’s meet outfit, Molly’s plaid skirt set, school jumper (homemade by my mommy), polka dot dress, Halloween costume, floral pajamas, Emily’s pajamas.

And let’s see what other Molly outfit photos I have lying around.  Here’s last week’s photo of Molly and Emily in Saige’s hot air balloon.  Emily is wearing the Route 66 outfit and Molly is wearing the Roller Skating outfit:

A lousy picture of Kit, but a pretty good picture of Molly’s Dude Ranch outfit!

Emily in her bikini:

Samantha wore Molly’s Polka Dot Dress on a wintertime trip to American Girl:

Rebecca borrowed Emily’s dress for a Hanukkah celebration:

Ruthie is wearing Molly’s pajamas (homemade by my mommy), and is lounging on Molly’s bed with mini Molly’s copy of Meet Molly:

Nicki is suited up for Camp Gowonagin:

Nellie looks adorable in the roller skating outfit, but she’s about to wake the whole neighborhood with the cymbals from Molly’s percussion set:

Here’s the very first photo of my Emily; please excuse the messy dorm room:

Emily bakes cookies (the apron is part of Kit’s collection):

Another photo of the roller skating outfit; this time modeled by Nicki:

Kanani looks splendid in Molly’s Hawaiian-style swimsuit!  Now she needs a Hawaiian beach (this photo is a beach on Washington’s Whidbey Island):

Here’s a photo from the day Maplelea Alexi arrived.  Elizabeth is wearing Molly’s ice skating outfit (and looks amazing):

Molly and Kit yearn to escape Ohio’s winter in their new swimsuits:

Dude Ranch!

Sonali pulls off Molly’s Miss Victory costume, with Ruthie ready to tap her heart out in Emily’s costume:

That’s all I have for now.  What’s your favorite Molly (or Emily) outfit?

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Maplelea Monday: A Passion for Purple

Here’s the end of my color series–6 Maplelea Girls in purple.

Alexi in Positively Peaceful

Jenna in Saila’s outfit

Saila in Flower Power

Brianne in Blueberry Mist

Taryn in Uptown Girl

Leonie in Plum Princess

Which color was your favorite?

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Maplelea Monday: We’ve got the blues!

No, we’re not sad, but we’re wearing blue!

Alexi in Slam Dunk, Leonie in Melody in Blue, Taryn in Summerhill Stroll, Saila in Jenna’s original outfit and Sports Energy Pack (this outfit has recently been through a much-needed update), Jenna in her snowsuit, and Brianne is wearing Taryn’s outfit (which is a bit too pale for Brianne).

I’m going on vacation tomorrow!

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Maplelea Monday: Green Team

Green Team is the name of a Taryn outfit (that Alexi is wearing today), but it is also the name I have given to the Maplelea Girls today, because they’re all wearing green.

Taryn in Tulip Royale, Jenna in Free to Be Me, Alexi in Green Team, Leonie in Gaggle of Glee, Brianne in Happy Tap, and Saila in Apple of my Eye

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Maplelea Monday!

It’s been a month, but the girls switched from orange to yellow!

Taryn–Outdoor Odyssey

Jenna–Soccer Supreme

Saila–Jenna’s Field Tripping (original version, current version has short sleeves)

Leonie–Alexi’s Sunset Sundress (she wore that last time too!)

Brianne!

and Alexi in Pelee Pizzazz

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Maplelea Monday: Orange-y goodness

Last week red, this week orange.  I love these girls’ outfits!

On Saila: Pelee Pizzazz

On Brianne: Sizzling Breeze

On Alexi: Alexi’s meet outfit

On Leonie: Sunset Sundress

On Taryn: Cabbagetown Karma

On Jenna: Alexi’s pajamas

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Maplelea Monday: Seeing Red

The Maplelea Girls are all in red today!  Here is Jenna in Landmark Lore, Brianne in Montmorency Waltz, Leonie in j’adore la musique, Alexi in Crochet Coordinates, Saila in Pop Star Plaid, and Taryn in Leonie’s Meet Outfit.  These are all Leonie’s outfits, but I think all the girls look lovely in red.

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